Photo Gallery: 50 years of manned space flight

(AFP/Getty Images)04.07.2011

This file photo taken on April 12, 1961 shows Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin inside the Vostok 1 command capsule. The 27-year-old's 108-minute flight on April 12, 1961 is still remembered in Russia even after the USSR's collapse as its greatest national achievement. The first flight into space made by Russia, by Gagarin, allowed the Soviet leadership, fully entrenched in the cold war, to maintain the superiority of the communist system over thier principal adversary, the United States.

(AFP/Getty Images)

This file photo taken on April 12, 1961 shows Soviet Vostok-1 spaceship with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board blasts off on top of Rocket R-7 for the first manned trip into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The 27-year-old's 108-minute flight on April 12, 1961 is still remembered in Russia even after the USSR's collapse as its greatest national achievement. The first flight into space made by Russia, by Gagarin, allowed the Soviet leadership, fully entrenched in the cold war, to maintain the superiority of the communist system over thier principal adversary, the United States.(AFP/Getty Images)

This file photo taken on April 12, 1961 shows Soviet Vostok-1 spaceship lies at the landing site 700 km south-east of Moscow after the first manned space trip. The capsule landed empty as Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to travel into space, made a parachute jump at an altitude of 7 000 meters.The 27-year-old's 108-minute flight on April 12, 1961 is still remembered in Russia even after the USSR's collapse as its greatest national achievement.(AFP/Getty Images)

Russian cosmonaut Boris Volynov, a contemporary of the first man in space Yuri Gagarin, speaks a about him to AFP in the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre s museum in Star City outside Moscow, on March 29, 2011. "Gagarin was not a leader, but he was friends with everyone and [Sergei] Korolev treated him as if he were his own son," cosmonaut Boris Volynov, a contemporary of Gagarin, remembered. The first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, a carpenter's son with a military bearing and an easy smile, was the ideal candidate for the Soviet authorities to send on the pioneering flight.(ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)(ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

A file photo taken on July 11, 1961 shows Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin saluting the crowd upon his arrival in London during an official visit to England. One half century ago, a carpenter's son named Yuri Gagarin lifted off to become the first man in space, carving an indelible mark in human history and scoring the Soviet Union's greatest Cold War success.(AFP/Getty Images)

A file photo taken on June 1, 1960 shows Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin posing with his wife Valentina and daughter Yelena on the bank of the Klyazma River in central Russian Vladimir region. Half century ago, a carpenter's son named Yuri Gagarin lifted off to become the first man in space, carving an indelible mark in human history and scoring the Soviet Union's greatest Cold War success.(AFP/Getty Images)

A file photo taken on April 12, 1961 shows Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin riding in bus to his Vostok I spaceship Soviet Vostok-1 spaceship to blast off for the first manned trip into space, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Half century ago, a carpenter's son named Yuri Gagarin lifted off to become the first man in space, carving an indelible mark in human history and scoring the Soviet Union's greatest Cold War success.(AFP/Getty Images)

Russian cosmonaut Boris Volynov, a contemporary of the first man in space Yuri Gagarin, speaks a about him to AFP in the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre s museum in Star City outside Moscow, on March 29, 2011. "Gagarin was not a leader, but he was friends with everyone and [Sergei] Korolev treated him as if he were his own son," cosmonaut Boris Volynov, a contemporary of Gagarin, remembered. The first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, a carpenter's son with a military bearing and an easy smile, was the ideal candidate for the Soviet authorities to send on the pioneering flight.(ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP/Getty Images)

This photo taken on July 17, 1975 in space shows Commander of the Soviet crew of Soyuz, Alexei Leonov (L) and commander of the American crew of Apollo, Thomas Stafford (R), shaking hands after the Apollo-Soyuz docking manoeuvres. In July of 1975 a US Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft while in Earth orbit.(AFP/Getty Images)

This photo taken on July 20, 1969 shows US Astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin walking near the Lunar Module during the Apollo 11 space mission. In July of 1969 US astronauts Neil Armstrong, then Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (Apollo 11) become first men to set foot on the Moon.(AFP/Getty Images)

This handout photograph provided by NASA and taken on August 15, 2007 shows US astronaut Rick Mastracchio, STS-118 mission specialist, participating in the mission's third planned session of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction and maintenance continue on the International Space Station (ISS) in space.(AFP/Getty Images)

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